Robolyst Robolyst

Bolts

A bolt is one unit of credit for work done in Robolyst. Every month, verified FTC teams are ranked by the bolts they earn from referrals, onboarding, contribution and usage. The top three at or above the floor are granted money.

How it works

Referrals bring FTC teams onto Robolyst and usage keeps them working in it. Every month the bolts from both, plus onboarding and contribution, rank every verified team, and the top three at or above the floor are paid. A team that places sits out the following cycle so the same three do not win every month.

Both sides of a referral earn. The referring team collects as the new team verifies, activates and stays active, and the referred team starts with a head start toward its own first place.The link to share lives in team settings.

Grants

paying this cycle
  1. First $150
  2. Second $100
  3. Third $50

Paying months run August through March.

A place below 350 bolts pays nothing.

A team that places sits out the next cycle.

Verified FTC teams only.

This cycle

October 2026 · 28 teams ranked
# Team Bolts
  1. 1 18527 PCM Alchemists 367
  2. Grants stop here · top 1 at or above 350
  3. 2 15055 DeDucktive Thinkers 178
  4. 3 24180 Blue Bananas 145
  5. 4 6147 Newbotics 95
  6. 5 27479 No esc ROBOTICS 92
  7. 6 27518 Stars Tackling Autonomous Robotic Systems 90
  8. 7 4969 Robot-X 70
  9. 8 34228 Cardboard Engineering 64
  10. 9 32355 Cyber Steel 63
  11. 10 30393 Lumens³ 62
Ties break on the lower team number. Top 10 of 28 ranked teams

What earns bolts

Referrals

Each stage credits the month it completes in. No cap on how many teams you refer.

  • Referred team verifies A team you referred signs up and claims its FTC number.
    20
  • Referred team activates That team starts doing real work in the toolkit.
    100
  • Referred team still active after 30 days It is still working a month later.
    40
  • First team from a new region The first team ever referred from a state or province with no Robolyst team.
    50 up to 5 a month
  • New follower Someone outside the team follows it for updates.
    15 up to 15 a month
  • Event coordinator requests a scouting kit A coordinator you sent asks for pit scouting at their event and gets a kit.
    20 up to 5 a month
  • Coordinator event fills its pit sheets Teams at an event your coordinator runs scan their cards and fill in their sheets.
    100 up to 5 a month

Onboarding

Once ever, per team. Deleting and re-adding something does not earn it twice.

  • Team claimed and verified
    20
  • Number, region and rookie year confirmed
    5
  • Logo uploaded
    5
  • Team bio written
    10
  • Banner photo or gradient chosen
    5
  • Gallery photos, first three Scored per photo for the first three.
    3
  • A photo of the robot
    5
  • A social account linked
    5
  • Public team site published
    5
  • A sponsor listed
    5
  • Roster members with roles
    15
  • A second admin account
    15
  • Recurring meeting schedule set
    15
  • First documentation entry
    10
  • First task created and completed
    5
  • First budget with a category
    5
  • First announcement published
    5
  • Notification preferences reviewed
    5
  • Discord linked
    5
  • Referred head start Joining through another team's referral link.
    50
  • First wiki page
    10

Contribution

Credit goes to the team that submitted, whether or not it wants to be named. The two marked "max" are priced by hand, on what the report was actually worth. 3 of them count a month.

  • Accepted help-doc or guide Awarded by hand.
    50
  • Bug report reproduced and fixed A bug you reported was real and is fixed. Assessed case by case.
    max30
  • Published testimony You wrote about using Robolyst and it went up on the site. Once a month.
    40 up to 1 a month
  • Feature request accepted A request of yours is on the public roadmap. What it pays depends on how much it moved.
    max40

Usage

Counts up to 150 bolts a month. Every action has to reach a finished state and read as real work. Anything with a write-up is read before it credits, which takes up to an hour.

  • Documentation entry A substantial entry with an image. Worth more the more it captures.
  • Checklist run completed Most of the items ticked.
  • Task completed by a different member Described, assigned, and closed by someone other than its author. Scored on what the description says.
  • Outreach event logged Confirmed, with a description of what happened. A fuller write-up is worth more.
  • Competition results in A competition on your schedule, after it has been played.
  • Expense logged with receipt Amount, category and receipt.
  • Scouting data for an event Pit or match data submitted for an event.
  • Open-source project upvoted Published and upvoted by other teams.
  • Event photo contributed An approved photo in a public event gallery.
  • Wiki page A substantial reference page. Worth more the more it captures.
  • Task completed Described, assigned and completed. Scored on what the description says.
  • Meeting with attendance A meeting with attendance recorded.
  • Pit pack filled in at your event Teams at an event you attend fill in sheets from the pit pack you printed.

Rules of conduct

  • Robolyst may void bolts and disqualify a team from a cycle. Accounts and teams that earn far outside the normal range are reviewed.
  • Bolts rank a team's Robolyst usage. They are not a measure of how well a team is run.

Recent rule changes

  • 3 October 2026 Rule
  • 3 October 2026 Rule
  • 10 September 2026 Rule
  • 9 September 2026 Rule
  • 9 September 2026 Rule
  • 9 September 2026 Rule
  • 9 September 2026 Rule
  • 9 September 2026 Rule
  • 8 September 2026 Feature request accepted onto the roadmap 30 → 50
  • 8 September 2026 Bug report reproduced and fixed 30 → 50

Net change per rule. A value already earned keeps what it was worth when it was written.

Past cycles